Friday, December 14, 2012

On A Day When All The Questions Begin With "Why?"

More details
will no doubt emerge about the latest mass killing. And the questions are being asked today, like
they do every time we hear of something like this - whether at a high school, a
movie theater, a shopping mall, a post office, or wherever - are the same,
despite the "new" level of evil that involved shooting up elementary
school children - and the questions invariably start with "why?"

And we fail, every time, to point out the real problem - a culture that is thoroughly
morally depraved in every way imaginable.
Further, most of us who do
recognize the real problem most often do so without taking responsibility for
our own contributions. It is much too easy for most people to point
fingers and pin blame on everything and everyone else except themselves.

Now let me be clear: As is always the
case, the "blame" if you will is to be placed on those responsible -
apparently, the actions of 1 or maybe 2 individuals. You and I are not responsible for this cruel killer's actions, nor is any other
individual except the one who took the lives of so many innocent people, mostly
very young children (and possibly any accomplices who assisted and/or knew what
was about to take place). Only the
killer is ultimately responsible. Not
the culture, not the people killed, not gun control laws, not guns themselves,
not even people who could have or should have recognized warning signs in such
a person. It is the individual and their choices to take evil actions that are responsible.

Yet why is it
that every time this happens, the
general public, the media, and so on, refuse to accept this truth? Because it means that we would have to acknowledge
that there really is an incredible, terrible, awful, destructive, disgusting,
horrid, totally depraved power at work in our world - we call it evil. We don't want to face it. We'd rather play the
deflect-and-blame-game. And the biggest
reason why we don't want to face it, is because while few of us would call
ourselves evil, we know, deep inside, that evil has another name - sin. And all of us know we have sinned. And there is no way we are going to connect our sin with the abhorrent evil that we
see around us.

But the trouble is, they are very much connected. This kind of unfathomable evil (or is it
really unfathomable anymore, the more and more we see of it?) is the work of
the devil, who is the one who introduced sin and evil into our world (and we -
humanity - opened the door wide open and invited him inside), and we must name
that evil power for what and for who it is.

You may not believe there is a devil.
You may not believe there is a God.
But I defy you to believe there is no such thing as evil. If you can't see that on a day like today,
with news like this, and with the increasing frequency of such horrible, tragic
events, then there is simply no getting through to you at all.

We *must* defeat evil - defeat *sin.*

And yet we live in a culture which has wholeheartedly accepted and endorsed
virtually any and every kind of sin as good, right, and perfectly acceptable. Further, many churches and Christians do the
same. Even many of those churches and
Christians who don't appear outwardly
to endorse the sins and evils of our culture and who "stand" for
"truth" preach a gospel in which it is understood that all of us,
without question, without exception, and without the ability to choose, must
sin "every day in word, thought, and deed." The blood of Jesus, the gospel of the
Kingdom, effectively does nothing for
us except to give us an excuse for our
sins that "those other people" don't have - and oh yes, it punched a
ticket to heaven for us.

The killer is responsible for the killings.

But we all are responsible for the culture and
environment in which such a horrific display of evil is allowed to ferment in
someone's heart until the point where it overflows and claims the lives of so
many innocent children, permanently scarring so many others, and breaking the
hearts of parents and families all over
a community and a nation.

So the
questions being asked today that all begin with "why..." can be answered. The real question is, do we want to answer them? Because ultimately we are the answer, if we submit our lives to the one true God, Jesus
Christ, and allow Holy Spirit to be fully in control of them. It is called holiness. Or said another way, love. Love is the answer to defeat such evil - such
sin. And love is most clearly expressed
through the life, ministry, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ.

It is this time
of year that we focus on Jesus' birth.
My prayer is that a new spirit will be birthed in all of us - in
individuals, in families, in communities, in churches, in our governments, in
our culture - a spirit that fights the powers of evil and sin instead of acquiescing
to them, a spirit that will transform the culture on every level, so much so
that it would no longer be possible for such evil-hearted people who commit
such devastatingly sinful actions to incubate, finally arriving at the place
where the overflow of their hearts destroys the lives of so many. But instead it would be a culture of
self-sacrificing love where God's will is our first priority, where the Kingdom
of God becomes more and more a reality, and where forgiveness and love triumph
over darkness and evil. That is Jesus'
way, and it is the only way we will triumph in the end.